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THE BEAR LAKE MONSTERS
Austin E. Fife
Since medieval knights rode forth with spear and lance
to subdue the werewolves of fen and forest and the serpents
of sea and lake, Anglo-American tradition has been filled
with a stream of lore about monsters of unseemly size and
behavior that have haunted the shores of every sea and every
inland body of water of any consequence. As late as the
summer of 1944 the mysterious appearance of such a monster was reported from the Farragut Naval Training Station
on Lake Pende Oreille in Idaho. In September, 1947, a
piano-tuner and his daughter, residents of Medford, Massachusetts, saw "a fifty-foot or even longer" monster disporting
itself off Lynn Beach, "rolling its barrel-like head and
writhing its back coils in and out of the sea."1
Little wonder then that converts to Mormonism who had
trod the soil where Beowulf and Arthur's knights vied with
the monsters of the deep should have brought these stories
along in their adventuresome trek to Zion and transplanted
them to the shores of Utah's vast inland seas. The story
teller's imagination was as common a trait among our
pioneer ancestors as was apostolic insistence upon veracity.
Thanks to them we possess in Deseret today a rich and varied
fabric of local legends, of which one of the most picturesque
is that of the Bear Lake Monsters.
The Monsters seem first to have captured the attention
of the general public as a result of a dispatch from Rich
County, Utah, published in the Deseret News of July 27,
1868, and bearing the initials of "J.C.R." This account is
so explicit and yet so filled with the terse innuendo of the
reporter that we reproduce it here in its entirety.
All lakes, caves and dens have their legendary histories. Tradition loves to throw her magic wand over beautiful dells and
lakes and people them with fairies, giants and monsters of various
kinds. Bear Lake has also its monster tale to tell, and when I
have told it, I will leave you to judge whether or not its merits
are merely traditionary.
Los Angeles Times, September 14, 1947; quoted in Western Folklore Quarterly, VII, 67.
99

THE BEAR LAKE MONSTERS
Austin E. Fife
Since medieval knights rode forth with spear and lance
to subdue the werewolves of fen and forest and the serpents
of sea and lake, Anglo-American tradition has been filled
with a stream of lore about monsters of unseemly size and
behavior that have haunted the shores of every sea and every
inland body of water of any consequence. As late as the
summer of 1944 the mysterious appearance of such a monster was reported from the Farragut Naval Training Station
on Lake Pende Oreille in Idaho. In September, 1947, a
piano-tuner and his daughter, residents of Medford, Massachusetts, saw "a fifty-foot or even longer" monster disporting
itself off Lynn Beach, "rolling its barrel-like head and
writhing its back coils in and out of the sea."1
Little wonder then that converts to Mormonism who had
trod the soil where Beowulf and Arthur's knights vied with
the monsters of the deep should have brought these stories
along in their adventuresome trek to Zion and transplanted
them to the shores of Utah's vast inland seas. The story
teller's imagination was as common a trait among our
pioneer ancestors as was apostolic insistence upon veracity.
Thanks to them we possess in Deseret today a rich and varied
fabric of local legends, of which one of the most picturesque
is that of the Bear Lake Monsters.
The Monsters seem first to have captured the attention
of the general public as a result of a dispatch from Rich
County, Utah, published in the Deseret News of July 27,
1868, and bearing the initials of "J.C.R." This account is
so explicit and yet so filled with the terse innuendo of the
reporter that we reproduce it here in its entirety.
All lakes, caves and dens have their legendary histories. Tradition loves to throw her magic wand over beautiful dells and
lakes and people them with fairies, giants and monsters of various
kinds. Bear Lake has also its monster tale to tell, and when I
have told it, I will leave you to judge whether or not its merits
are merely traditionary.
Los Angeles Times, September 14, 1947; quoted in Western Folklore Quarterly, VII, 67.
99